Ritual Performance in Early Chinese Thought

Examining early Chinese ritual discourse during the Warring States and early Western Han Periods, this book reveals how performance became a fundamental feature of ritual and politics in early China. Through a dramaturgical lens, Thomas Radice explores the extent to which performer/spectator relationships influenced all aspects of early Chinese religious, ethical, and political discourse.
Arguing that the Confucians conceived ritual as primarily a dramaturgical matter, this book demonstrates not only that theatricality was necessary for expression and deception in a community of spectators, but also how a theatrical 'presence' ultimately became essential to all forms of public life in early China. Thomas Radice illuminates previously unexplored connections between early Chinese texts, aesthetics, and traditions.

Thomas Radice is Professor of Chinese History at Southern Connecticut State University, USA.

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Kongzi as Dramaturg: Cultivating Performers and Spectators of Ritual Theatricality 2. (Not) Faking It: Antitheatricality and Spectatorship 3. Method Mourning: Embodying Art and Artifice in Confucian Dramaturgy 4. Power and/of Presence: Theatricality and Political Performance Conclusion Bibliography